‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these members of my family, you did it to me.’ Matthew 25:40

7 Marks of A Stereotypical American Christian

American Christians seemingly love to argue with people and engage themselves in various culture wars. Whether it’s about the existence of global warming, prayer in schools, evolution, gun control, or homosexuality, you love to let people know that you’re RIGHT and they’re WRONG. Oh yeah, and if you don’t agree with me --You’re going to hell! Literally."7 Marks of A Stereotypical American Christian"by Stephen Mattson 07-02-2013

SOJOURNERS: Faith in Action for Social Justice

1) You Love To Argue, Fight, And Attack

2) You Practice Christianity Through Groups And Institutions

There’s nothing quite like flooding people’s Facebook feeds with posts about the sins of gay marriage, abortion, and the Democratic Party or the volleyed claims of bigotry, hypocrisy, and self-interest.

American Christians seemingly love to argue with people and engage themselves in various culture wars. Whether it’s about the existence of global warming, prayer in schools, evolution, gun control, or homosexuality, you love to let people know that you’re RIGHT and they’re WRONG. Oh yeah, and if you don’t agree with me —You’re going to hell! Literally.

You aren’t just part of a church — you belong to the Midwest Association of Evangelical Believers, part of the Northwest Baptist Conference, located in the Eastern Synod of Inger County ... and you attend the Traditional Service. Denominations, schools, associations, organizations, and institutions are a normal part of your everyday faith. In fact, you hardly worship, fellowship, learn, or minister outside of an officially sponsored function.

You post Bible verses on Twitter, claim ‘Christianity’ as your religion on Facebook, and proudly put inspiring quotes about God and faith on your Tumblr account. But in reality you never pray, read the Bible, or practically live out your beliefs. If only your faith was as strong as it appeared on Social Media.

What version of the Bible do they read? What style of worship do they prefer? Do they love the Emergent Movement or think it’s directly from Satan? Instead of seeing Christians as part of a worldwide corporate community, you compartmentalize people based on their beliefs, practices and preferences.

Ministries, Missions, and Outreaches are only successful if they are quick, streamlined, and financially rewarding. Success is gauged by growth and numbers. If someone isn’t converted or reformed within the first few weeks, it’s time to abandon them and focus on someone else —solutions should be fast and easy.

Your faith is analyzed by business standards instead of spiritual fruits.

Christian education, worship, ministry, missions, and fellowship centers around the quest for entertainment. What can you get from it? The greatest benefactor of Christianity is yourself —not others. The worst enemy of American Christianity isn’t heresy — it’s boredom.

Obviously, many Christians are more complex and inspiring than the attributes listed above, but we need to start realizing the influence American culture has on our faith.

Unfortunately, many of these stereotypes are still perpetuated by American Christians who have strayed away from Christ’s example of sacrificial love and are using religion to serve their own misguided agendas. Nobody is perfect, but we need to start emulating Christ instead of subtly allowing our social surroundings to dictate our spiritual priorities.

Stephen Mattson has written for Relevant, Red Letter Christians and The Burnside Writer's Collective. He graduated from the Moody Bible Institute and is currently on staff at Northwestern College in St. Paul, Minn. Follow him on Twitter @mikta.

My Concluding Observations: My apologies to those who are offended by this article:no offence is intended but only honest reflection. As Christians, we learn humility through discipleship to the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. To reflect upon our attachment to this world, and our estrangement from God, is to reflect upon the words of our Master (Matthew 25:31-44). Jesus asked his disciples to look after those who were without food, without shelter, without love - ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family,you did it to me.’